High value HIPPS

There is little argument that when it comes to everyday cheap plastic valves, China has the market sewn up.

As a result, valve manufacturers outside of Asia have had to focus on producing flow control solutions of higher quality and value to remain competitive.

This is certainly the case in the UK, says British Valve & Actuator Association (BVAA) director Rob Bartlett.

“British valve companies want to get into the high engineered, high value valves,” says Bartlett.

“They can’t compete with China on the cheap ones.”

Part of this ongoing trend towards UK manufacturers favouring highly engineered valves has been the proliferation of suppliers offering valves suitable for use in High Integrity Pressure Protection Systems (HIPPS), says Hima Sella sales manager Andy Tonge.

HIPPS is the name given to a safety system that is completely separate from a process plant’s main control and safety systems, acting as an ultimate defence against potentially catastrophic failures caused by over-pressure scenarios.

In essence, it is a pressure break, which permits downstream pipelines and plant to be down-rated.

It comprises valves, actuators, a logic solver and instrumentation.

“It is important that HIPPS is diverse from the technology controlling the process so that it can stop the over-pressure,” says Tonge, whose firm manufactures solid state logic solvers and works with valves and actuation firms to develop a turnkey HIPPS solution for clients.

“There are a lot more valves manufacturers claiming HIPPS compatibility and having their valves certified to the necessary Safety Integrity Level (SIL), whereas before [HIPPS became popular over the past decade], there was just a handful.”

Tonge adds that Hima Sella works with four main valves manufacturers on its HIPPS systems: Belvalves, Pentair’s FCT ball valves brand, Mokveld and PetrolValves, all of which produce different types of valves suited to HIPPS installations.

Popularity

Mechanical HIPPS have been around since the 1970s, while electronic HIPPS materialised at the turn of the millennium.

Despite being around for a couple of decades, the increasing popularity of modern HIPPS in the last 10 years has been driven by a combination of technical and environmental factors in the global Oil & Gas market, which as an industry is by far the largest user of HIPPS systems.

Oil & Gas production wells are rated by their shut-in pressures and, even though they do not flow at this rating, conventional practice dictates that the downstream equipment must be designed to tolerate a fully-rated system.

Typically, a well might be rated for 10,000psi.

However, in most oil producing regions - such as the North Sea and Middle East – the early easy-to-get-to hydrocarbon reserves have gone, and new wells are deeper and rate for higher pressures of 15,000psi and beyond.

Fully rating these systems requires thick-walled pipelines and vessels that are expensive to procure and difficult to install, especially in deepwater.

HIPPS installations can resolve the difference between the shut-in pressure and flow-pressure by permitting the flowline to be de-rated to conventional levels and protecting it from pressure excursions by sensing the upset conditions and shutting down the overall system quickly.

HIPPS have become popular, says Tonge, because they represent a cost-effective solution that allows “new wells with higher pressures to use the existing pipelines with lower pressure ratings”.

Advantages

Their economic advantages are also being appreciated on projects with new infrastructure, says Pentair Valves and Controls global product manager for piston actuators Jacqueline Onditi.

“If you put HIPPS on the wellhead, you can have a derating of downstream infrastructure which gives a saving on space and equipment costs,” she says.

Because HIPPS are the only systems that protect against overpressure scenarios and the loss of containment simultaneously, they have also become popular for being able to help oil and gas producers meet environmental targets and comply with emissions legislation, adds Onditi.

“You don’t want to be releasing into the atmosphere or flaring,” she says, adding that because HIPPS are generally used on larger flow lines where flow rates and pressures are more challenging, the large quantities of gas that would have to be released or flared with traditional pressure release valves makes HIPPS a more preferable option for oil and gas producers.

To illustrate the scale of the applications HIPPS are sometime used in, Onditi cites a gas extraction project Pentair worked on in the United Arab Emirates, where just the valve on its own measured 6m long by 3m high.

“It was an absolute monster,” she says.

When working on this kind of scale, the engineering challenges become huge. Because HIPPS are the last line of defence for a project’s safety, the speed at which actuators must seal the valve to close off the pipeline is typically required to be around two seconds, says Onditi.

“Shutting large diameter valves at phenomenally high speeds requires a lot of engineering,” she says.

“You need to achieve those two seconds but you need a damping system that will allow you to achieve the stop without damaging the valve with excessive impact.”

Oil price

While HIPPS systems have been on the rise, there is a spectre on the horizon for these systems in the form of a sustained low oil price, and the potential impact that could have on the commissioning of future upstream projects.

“The depressed oil & gas price is causing a lot of concern,” says Bartlett.

“The concern is that British valve companies are focussed on higher value valves, and oil & gas is where the higher value ones tend to go.”

Onditi says that Pentair does expect to see a slowdown in upstream oil & gas activity, although it wasn’t “immediately visible” given how far down the supply chain valves and actuation firms are.

However, Tonge adds: “There have been some projects put on hold, but others have committed and are still carrying ahead.”

Nevertheless, if when the expected slowdown comes, both Tonge and Onditi are hopeful that the growing use of HIPPS in other areas outside of upstream oil & gas will help soften the blow.

“It is being used in some process plant areas,” says Tonge.

“For example, a new compressor being used in a process generating higher pressures than the existing plant infrastructure can cope with.”

In particular, says Odinti, there is huge potential for HIPPS in downstream oil & gas.

“[The fall in upstream activity] may or may not be offset by an increase in refining and petrochemicals activity, because feedstock is in good and cheap supply,” she says.

Indeed, with BP last month reporting a doubling in its refining and petrochemicals profits at the same time as recording major profit falls in exploration and production, it may well be that the future is bright for HIPPS and high value valves outside of their traditional upstream oil & gas stomping ground.